Artificial denture



(No Model.)

J'. E. LOW.

, ARTIFICIAL DENTURE.

No. 313,434. Patented Mar. 3,1885.

777637266806; Inuen-Za r;

N4 PEIERS, Phawlilhognpben Washillglnn, I10

JAMES E. LOl/V, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ARTIFICIAL DENTURE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 313,43 dated March 3, 1885.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES E. Low, of Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dentistry; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the application of permanent artificial teeth in the mouth; and it consists in the matters hereinafter set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

In Letters Patent No. 238,940, granted to me March 15, 1881, is described a construction whereby an artificial tooth or a block or group of such teeth is secured in the mouth by means of continuous bands forming part of the artificial structure, and permanently secured to adjacent natural teeth by means of cement. In the construction set forth in said Letters Patent the inserted denture is supported wholly by the adjacent natural teeth, to which they are connected, as described, albeit it is provided in said patent that the denture may, on its outer vertical surface, extend into contact with the intervening gum, so as to prevent the appearance of a space between the teeth and gum while being arched or cut away, except in a line for such contact, in order to prevent the accui'nulat-ion'of food beneath the teeth.

The improvement herein set forth contemplates the attachment of the denture to a natural tooth or teeth in the month by means of a continuous band or bands of cement; but it also contemplates that the inserted teeth shall rest firmly upon the jaw, so as to derive a degree of support therefrom, as well as from the attachments. In order to accomplish this re sult, while at the same time providing against the accumulation of food between the teeth and gum, the lower edge or surface of said inserted denture is narrowed, so as to rest only upon the extreme upper surface or edge of the jaw, and is very carefully fitted to con form with said surface, so that it may be made to bear firmly thereon to the exclusion of food and at the same time afford no inconvenience to the wearer. By thus making the bearingsurface narrow thedesired pressure of the artificial structure falls only upon the more rigid and unyielding part of the jaw, between which and the rigid denture resting thereon it is impossible for food to enter, whileif the bearing-surface were made broader, so as to extend over the softer and more yielding portions of the jaw at either or both sides of said ridge, food would be likely to be admitted and retained. For the purpose of more carefully securing the desired closeness of fit throughout the entire extent of the bearing. surfaces referred to, a preferable construction is herein shown, in which a smooth metal plate, first carefully fitted to the narrow and rigid portion of the jaw upon which the inserted denture is to rest, is made part of the artificial structure.

An advantage of the construction set forth in this patent is that the inserted denture is more perfectly supported than when upheld by the bands alone, and that the strain upon said bands is lessened and their attachment to the natural teeth is made more reliable and lasting. Another and important advantage is that the artificial structure may be more satisfactorily secured in place by attach ment to the natural teeth at one end only of the denture, and thus teeth supplied where natural teethare not present at both ends of a vacancy.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a lowerjaw containing several natural teeth and two blocks of artificial teeth inserted inaccordauce with my invention, one being held by bands encircling teeth at both ends of the block, and the other by bands atone end only. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section extending from front to rear of Fig. 1, and affording a view of the interior surface of thelast-mentioned block of teeth and of the bands by which said block is secured to anterior natural teeth. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a portion of a jaw, showing natural and artificial teeth connected in accordance with this invention. tical section transverse to the ridge of the jaw, showing an artificial tooth resting upon said Fig. 4. is a central ver jaw, and provided with a plate fitted to the jaw-surface and applied to the artificial tooth in accordance with this invention.

A is a human jaw, and a a are natural teeth therein.

B B are dentures, consisting either of single teeth or ofa number of teeth, b b, rigidlyjoined to each other to form a unitary structure.

B B are metal bands, secured to the denture and fitted to encircle adjacent natural teeth, to which they are rigidly fastened by cement. For the purpose of rigidly joining the teeth I) to each other, they may be preferably constructed in continuous blocks; but they may be otherwise joined. They are further united and are supported by a metal backing, B, which may, if preferred, extend over the upper surface of said teeth, as indicated in Fig. 4. Said metal backing B forms a means of attachment for the bands B The said bands are continuous, in that they entirely encircle the several individual teeth a a, and are, therefore, as set forth in my before-mentioned patent, adapted to be applied to the adjacent natural teeth permanently by the introduction of a cement or filling which' vided with a metallic covering, b, as also indicated in said Fig. 4, which covering will have been fitted exactly to the surface of the jaw upon which it is to rest by the usual method of fitting plates to the mouth, or otherwise, and which is permanently attached to the teeth after the latter have been fitted thereto by any suitable means for holding it permanently in place. I

In Fig. 2 a block of teeth is shown as being secured to the lower jaw by attachment to the natural teeth anterior thereto only. In this case bands B B are usually made to embrace more than one of the'adjacent teeth, in order to properly support the artificial structure laterally at its rear extremity, and also to hold it firmly down in contact with the jaw in use. The bands B on their inner or rear surface are usually made broad, as indicated in said Fig. 2, in orderto give the utmost strength and permanence to the attachment, while in front, as shown in Fig. 1, they are commonly made as narrow as practicable consistently with strength, in order to present as little metallic surface as possible to view.

In Fig. 3 is shown a denture secured between natural teeth by means of a band at each end of the'block, said band encircling only a contiguous naturaltooth. This is a construction often followed; but if the position of the natural teeth'warrant and the conditions of the case require, the bands at either end or at both ends of the inserted tooth or teeth may be two or more innumber to encircle a corresponding number of adjacent orneighboring teeth.

The metal plate b may sometimes be omitted and the denture itself perfectly fitted, by grinding or otherwise, to the rigid surface on which it is to rest.

In applying the artificial structure after it has been fitted to the placeit is to occupy, and the bands have been fitted to the teeth they are to embrace, cement is applied to the interior of the bands and to the teeth, and the structure is forced down into close contact with thejaw, where it is permanently held in place by the cement whichunites the bands to the teeth.

In the construction described, the support for the denture is divided between the bearing thereof upon the jaw and the cemented bands by which the structure is secured in place. This insures greater comfort, permanence, and solidity to the structure in the mouth than if the bands are alone relied upon. At the same time, the contact being narrow and upon the unyielding part of thejaw, no food can accumulate between the jaw and the artificial tooth, and the denture is therefore cleanly and in every way unobjectionable.

Of course, the bands may be secured to a crown built upon a natural base or root, and for the purpose of this patent such a crown is understood to be considered as a natural tooth.

I claim as my invention- 1. In combination with a natural tooth or teeth, a denture provided with a band or hands permanently connected to said natural tooth or teeth, and having a narrow bearingsurface fitted to rest upon the hard ridge of the jaw, whereby said denture is supported both by its bearing upon the said ridge and by its attachment to the natural tooth orteeth, substantially as described.

2. In combination with the permanentlyseeured denture having its lower surface contracted to oppose the ridge of the jaw, the metallic plate I), fitted accurately to the jawsurface and secured to the denture and to the band or bands by which the denture is permanently held in place, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES E. LOW.

IVitnesses:

M. E. DAYTON, PETER J. ELLERT.

IOU 

